The Department of Justice announced today that it would not oppose a proposal by the Southeastern Public Service Authority of Virginia (SPSA) to enter into a contract with a competitive provider of disposal services.

Mercedes-Benz USA and its parent corporation, DaimlerChrysler AG (Mercedes), have agreed to pay $1.2 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations that they violated the Clean Air Act by failing to promptly notify the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about defects in the air pollution controls installed on numerous 1998 to 2006 Mercedes model vehicles, the Justice Department and the EPA announced today.

Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (OSG) has today agreed to plead guilty to 33 felony counts related to deliberate vessel pollution from nine ships and false pollution log entries in three additional ships, in six U.S. ports around the nation.

The Justice Department announced today that a superseding indictment was returned by federal grand jury in Salt Lake City, Utah, charging the parent company of gold and silver refiner Johnson Matthey Inc. with conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA).

William James Victor Garrison, a resident of Culpeper, Va., was today charged by federal grand jury with conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and with making a false statement to a federal investigative agent during the course of an investigation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice today announced that they have lodged with federal district court in New Jersey, a Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement with PSEG Fossil LLC related to PSEG's failure to comply with a 2002 consent decree requiring installation of pollution controls at its coal-fired power plants in Jersey City and Hamilton, N.J.

A former Alabama boat builder and a charter-boat fisherman were charged late yesterday afternoon with one count of conspiracy and two counts of making false documents and writings in attempting to violate a moratorium on charter vessel permits under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson Act) regulations.

WASHINGTON - The Sun Ace Shipping Company, based in Seoul, South Korea, was sentenced today to pay a $400,000 penalty, a $100,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Program, Delaware Estuary Grants Program, which will be used to protect and restore the natural resources of the Delaware Estuary and its watershed, and to a three-year term of probation during which its vessels will be banned from U.S. ports and waters.

A multi-state Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement, reached today with oilseed processor Bunge North America Inc. and three of its subsidiaries, will eliminate more than 2,200 tons of harmful pollution emissions per year when fully implemented.

Christopher Kevin Weaver, a charter boat captain from Panama City, Fla., was sentenced today to two years of probation and a $1,000 fine for violating the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) by knowingly and unlawfully shooting at one or more dolphins in U.S. waters.

The city of Indianapolis has agreed to make an estimated $1.86 billion worth of improvements to resolve longstanding problems with overflows from its sewer system, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The federal government and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control reached an agreement today with chemical companies DuPont and Ciba to resolve claims relating to the release of hazardous substances from the DuPont Newport Superfund Site, which contaminated wetlands in and around the Christina River ecosystem.

Under two related settlements, Seaboard Foods LP and PIC USA Inc., will take significant steps at many of their facilities to ensure future compliance with environmental laws and to resolve allegations that the companies contaminated groundwater and surface waters near several of their facilities, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The Sun Ace Shipping Company, based in Seoul, South Korea, has pleaded guilty to a one-count information for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, in relation to the operation of a bulk carrier vessel the M/V Sun New, the Justice Department announced today.

The federal government today reached a settlement with Mid-Valley Pipeline Company (Mid-Valley) and pipeline operator Sunoco Pipeline L.P. (SPLP), requiring the companies to pay a $2.57 million penalty relating to a January 2005 spill that dumped more than 260,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers.

The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that they have reached separate agreements with NCH Corporation (NCH) and FMC Corporation (FMC) to resolve claims against them relating to the costs of cleanup at the Higgins Farm and Higgins Disposal Superfund sites in Somerset County, N.J.

The federal government reached an agreement today which will help to protect the health and the environment of Tacoma and Ruston-area citizens by expediting the estimated $28 million cleanup of the Asarco Smelter Site in Tacoma and Ruston, Wash.

The owners and operators of the foreign-flagged container vessel, Mad Taipei, have agreed to pay $3.25 million to the United States to resolve allegations that the 15 containers lost overboard in 2004 resulted in long-term damage to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce announced today.

Hoang Nguyen, captain of the Galveston, Texas-based commercial fishing vessel Thanh Tam, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for illegally importing red snapper into the United States, the Justice Department announced today. Tam Le, a crewmember of the Thanh Tam, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release for concealing red snapper which was illegally imported into the United States.

WASHINGTON - The former manager of the Inwood Dairy, David Inskeep, was sentenced today to 30 days in prison, one year supervised release and a $3,000 fine for a criminal misdemeanor violation of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), the Justice Department announced today.

An American-based ship operator, Pacific-Gulf Marine, Inc. (PGM), has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges that it engaged in deliberate acts of pollution involving a fleet of four ships in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, the Justice Department announced today. As part of the plea agreement, PGM will pay a $1 million criminal fine and $500,000 for community service, if approved by the court.

In landmark enforcement actions, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) has agreed to pay $10 million in criminal and civil fines and committed to perform more than $1.7 billion in injunctive relief to resolve repeated environmental violations at wastewater treatment plants and drinking water treatment plants throughout the Commonwealth.

WASHINGTON - The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) entered into an agreement to plead guilty to an indictment charging 15 felony counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) through the illegal discharge of pollutants from nine sanitary wastewater treatment plants and five drinking water treatment plants, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON-Estremar S.A., an Argentine company formerly known as ASC South America S.A., today pleaded guilty to violating federal anti-fish and wildlife trafficking law by importing and attempting to sell Patagonian toothfish, often marketed by the trade name Chilean seabass, without the documentation required to show it was legally harvested.

WASHINGTON-Charles Matlock, an executive with Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company, was sentenced in federal court today to 12 months and one day in prison and a $20,000 fine for violating the federal Clean Air Act, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced.

The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) today announced two settlements that will lead to substantial cleanup of hazardous substances at facilities owned by Marine Shale Processors Inc. and Recycling Park Inc. in Amelia, La.

The United States government, the Louisville Metropolitan Air Pollution Control District (LMAPCD), and the state of New Jersey announced a settlement today with Oxy Vinyls, LP (Oxy Vinyls) under which citizens in areas of Texas, Kentucky and New Jersey will experience reduced exposure to the known human carcinogen vinyl chloride.

Wayne County Airport Authority (Airport Authority), which operates Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan Airport, pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act, the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency announced.

The United States and the State of Alaska today submitted to Exxon Mobil Corporation a detailed plan for a proposed restoration project intended to restore habitat in the area affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In accordance with the "Reopener" provision of the 1991 civil settlement with the Exxon Corporation, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Alaska Department of Law today presented the company with a proposed plan to restore shorelines in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska that still contain oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The State of Alaska and three federal agencies whose trust resources were injured by the spill-the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior-have estimated the project to cost approximately $92 million over the course of several years. The additional funding is being sought under the "Reopener for Unknown Injury" provision of the 1991 civil settlement which required Exxon to pay $900 million in damages at the time.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Greg Street Plating, Inc.-an electroplating, metal plating and finishing company based in Sparks, Nevada-was charged in a one-count indictment with discharging highly acidic waste into the sewer system that leads to the Truckee Meadows Sewage treatment facility, in violation of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department announced today.

WASHINGTON-In another significant step toward cleaning up polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Hudson River, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today asked the U.S. District Court in Albany, New York to approve the October 2005 consent decree with the General Electric Company (GE) for the river dredging called for in EPA's 2002 Record of Decision for the Hudson River PCBs Superfund site.

WASHINGTON-In a settlement to reduce the release of ozone-depleting refrigerants into the atmosphere, a Chicago-based national baking company has agreed to stop using ozone-depleting refrigerants, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal court in Missouri has ordered Timber Industries, Inc. to pay a penalty of more than $225,000 for illegal disposal of hazardous wastes at its wood treatment facility, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The City of Dallas, Texas has reached an agreement with the federal government requiring the City to spend in excess of $3.5 million in a comprehensive effort to decrease the amount of pollution entering the city's stormwater system, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a joint federal-state settlement, Mirant Mid-Atlantic (Mirant) has agreed to eliminate nearly 29,000 tons of harmful pollution each year generated by its four electricity generating plants in Maryland and Virginia. The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland worked jointly on this enforcement action, which will reduce significantly output of nitrogen oxides (NOx) throughout the region.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) and contractor Scarsella Brothers, Inc. have agreed to pay $895,000 for violations of the Clean Water Act during the construction of the Bellgrove-Mica realignment of Highway 95 near Lake Coeur d'Alene in Northern Idaho, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A New Jersey cast iron pipe manufacturer, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. (a division of McWane, Inc.) and four company officials were found guilty of committing flagrant abuses of environmental and worker safety laws, the Justice Department and Environmental Agency announced today.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency today announced a partial settlement of a case alleging violations of the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act against the Alabama Power Company James H. Miller, Jr. Plant, a coal-fired power plant near West Jefferson, Ala.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The air quality in North Dakota and surrounding regions will improve significantly because the federal government and the state of North Dakota are requiring two utilities to reduce emissions of two harmful pollutants by more than 33,000 tons per year.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Over the past five years, the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) has worked tirelessly to enforce the nation's civil and criminal environmental laws, resulting in numerous accomplishments, and tangible benefits that protect and restore America's natural resources.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Kevin M. McMaster-formerly of Port St. Lucie, Florida-was sentenced to 25 months in prison and three years of supervised release for selling and offering to sell in interstate commerce more than $200,000 worth of endangered species in violation of the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Department of Justice announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As the latest in a series of partial settlements aimed at cleaning up and restoring the Lower Fox River and Green Bay Superfund Site in northeastern Wisconsin, NCR Corp. (NCR) and Sonoco-U.S. Mills, Inc. (Sonoco) have agreed to complete an important initial phase of the cleanup, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United States, the state of Ohio, and two citizen groups have reached a settlement with AK Steel Corporation resolving claims that discharges from AK Steel's Middletown, Ohio steel plant pose a threat to human health and the environment, and violated federal and state environmental statutes and regulations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Virginia executive and two companies, ACS Environmental, Inc. (ACS) and Air Power Enterprises, Inc. (Air Power), were sentenced late yesterday to a substantial jail term and fines for conspiracy to defraud the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Justice Department announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - David Inskeep pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor violation of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Jeffery L. Springer of Phoenix, Arizona was sentenced today to three years of probation, $2,000 in fines, and $75,000 in restitution to victims for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Department of Justice announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United States has reached a landmark settlement with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) requiring the MWRA to implement significant improvements in Boston's sewage collection system, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON D.C. - Jonathan Corey Sawyer of Camas, Washington, was sentenced in Tacoma today to 15 months in prison and 2 years of supervised release for illegally importing and exporting rare reptiles, the Department of Justice announced today. According to court records, Sawyer illegally smuggled more than 230 reptiles in an eight month period.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Puerto Rico Administration of Corrections (PRAC) has agreed to construct a safe drinking water supply system-at a projected cost of $1 million-to provide safe drinking water to the rural community of La Sapia, in Orocovis, Puerto Rico, to resolve violations of a consent decree entered in 1997, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Elkem Metals Company L.P, its two partners-Ferro Invest III Inc. and Ferro Invest II LLC-and Eramet Marietta Inc. have agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle allegations that the companies injured natural resources and violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) as a result of wastewater discharges from a Marietta, Ohio, facility the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Cast-iron pipe manufacturer McWane, Inc. (McWane) and former vice president and general manager, Charles Matlock, pleaded guilty today in federal court to environmental crimes in connection with the operation of Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company (Pacific States). Specifically, McWane pleaded guilty to two counts of submitting a document to the State of Utah containing falsified emission test results. Matlock pleaded guilty to one count of rendering inaccurate a testing method required by the Clean Air Act (CAA). McWane was ordered to pay a $3 million fine-the largest criminal environmental fine in the state of Utah-and to serve a three-year period of probation. Sentencing for Charles Matlock is scheduled for May 2, 2006.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger), headquartered in Texas, has agreed to pay $11.8 million to federal and state agencies for injuries to natural resources caused by the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in the Twelvemile Creek, Lake Hartwell and surrounding areas, the Justice Department announced today. Schlumberger will also spend an additional $8 to 10 million to purchase and remove two hydroelectric dams on Twelvemile Creek, and to conduct stream restoration activities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - MBK Partnership-an Oregon general partnership of local real estate developers-along with its partners and related business entities (MBK), have entered into a consent decree to resolve a long-running dispute involving homeowners in Klamath Falls, Oregon, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Hoang Nguyen, captain of the Galveston, Texas-based commercial fishing vessel Thanh Tam, pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally importing red snapper, the Justice Department announced today. Nguyen and his crewmembers had caught and retained the fish in violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Both Nguyen and a crewmember were indicted by a grand jury in Houston, Texas on November 23, 2005 for offenses surrounding the illegal importation of red snapper in 2004 and 2005. The illegal importation charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - ConAgra Foods, Inc., the owner and operator of a food ingredient and flour mill in Hastings, Minnesota, was sentenced for violating the Clean Water Act, the Department of Justice announced today. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced ConAgra Foods, Inc., to pay a criminal fine of $138,513 and provide $55,000 in community service to the National Park Foundation as well as $55,000 in community service to the Friends of the Mississippi River. ConAgra was also sentenced to pay $1,487 in restitution to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Noel Abrogar, Chief Engineer of the M/V Magellan Phoenix, was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and one day, and three years of probation for falsifying records that attempted to conceal repeated overboard discharges of oil waste from the ship, the Justice Department announced today. Abrogar pleaded guilty on September 7, 2005 to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, based on his role in discharging oil sludge and oil-contaminated bilge waste directly into the ocean from the M/V Magellan Phoenix and then falsifying the ship's records to cover up the discharges between December 2004 and March 2005.